The Role of Women Groups in Improving Household Welfare in Nkaimurunya Division Ngong District of Kajiado County

Abstract

Women groups are not a new phenomenon in the society as women have always worked together as shown in their participation in “Zangule” among the Kamba and “saga” among the Luo.. Women groups are a community based organizations formed and managed by women to address women development issues by pooling together resources, ideas and sharing information pertinent in the society. After independence, women realized that political independent did not translate into socio-economic improvement for them and their families and this was reflected in the government reduction of aid towards women activities .The initial women groups concentrated their efforts around mutual assistance hence were social welfare in nature. In view of this, one notes great change in goal orientations –from social welfare to commercial dominance. A number of past researches conducted have raised issues related to women groups concerning the worth of time and money invested in women groups and whether they are a form of hope for women in reducing poverty and improving household welfare. From this therefore, there is need to design an intensive study to verify the viability of women groups in meeting the members’ demands. The research study was conducted in Nkaimurunya division in Ngong Sub-county of Kajiado County which has a total of ten registered women groups .In the research design, a combination of descriptive and naturalistic designs were used to interrogate the role of women groups in improving household welfare in Nkaimurunya ward. The study used both probability and nonprobability sampling techniques to select participants of the study. Sample size of 85 women group members and two officers was selected for the study making a total of 87 participants. A questionnaire and an interview guide were used as study instruments for collecting data. The study found out that woman in women groups contributed to the family wellbeing out of the group’s proceeds in provision of basic needs for their families, purchase of household wares and payment of school fees for their school going children. This therefore answers the question on whether women groups play any role in improving household welfare in Nkaimurunya division of Ngong district in Kajiado county.